The purpose of this investigation is to elucidate the relationship of affective state to memory function in the aged. Questioning the conventional acceptance of the inevitability of memory decline as a "normal" function of aging, this study aims to show that depression is a significant distorting factor, contributing partly to difficulty on some memory but most importantly, to the illusion or exaggeration of memory impairment. The major hypothesis is that depression is more highly related to the impression of memory impairment than is actual performance. The research design calls for the study of attitudes toward memory and actual memory function using a variety of testing procedures in three different groups of older adults, psychiatric patients with major depressive symptoms, neurological patients with difficulties in memory, and a non-patient control group. The depressed patients will be retested six months later following psychiatric intervention and changes in their conditions.